s something very novel and striking in beholding brilliant
macaws and cockatoos swinging on a lofty green-leaved bough, and then, at the
call of the keeper, darting down to be fed where stately Indian and African
cranes and clumsy emus are stalking about.

The late Earl was celebrated as a cockfighter, and the possessor of one of
the finest breeds of game fowls in the kingdom. A few only are now kept up
at Knowsley, as presents to the noble owner's friends. Knowsley lies near
Prescott, about seven miles from Liverpool. The family are descended from
the Lord Stanley who was created Earl of Derby by the Earl of Lancaster and
Derby, afterwards Henry IV., for services rendered at the battle of Bosworth
Field. An ancestress, Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby, is
celebrated for her defence of Latham House against the Parliamentary forces
in the Great Civil War, and is one of the heroines of Sir Walter Scott's
novel of "Peveril of the Peak." {159}

Liverpool is particularly well placed as a starting point for excursions, in
consequence of the number of railways with which it is connected, and the
number of steamboats which frequent its port, where a whole dock is
especially devoted to vessels of that class.

By crossing over to Birkenhead, Chester may be reached, and thence the
quietest route to Ireland, by Britannia Bridge and Holyhead; or a journey
through North Wales may be commenced. By the East Lancashire, starting from
the Station behind the Exchange, a direct line is opened through Ormskirk to
Preston, the lakes of Cumberland, and to Scotland by the west coast line.

From the same station a circuitous route through Wigan and Bolton, on the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opens a second road to Manchester, and
affords a complete communication with the manufacturing districts of
Lancashire and Yorkshire.

On the roads to London it is not now necessary to treat.

The steam accommodation from Liverpool has always been excellent, far
superior to that afforded in the Thames. No such wretched slow-sailing tubs
are to be found as those which plied between London and Boulogne and Calais,
until railway competition introduced a little improvement. The interior
fittings and feeding on board Liverpool boats are generally superior. The
proprietors have taken the Scotch and Americans as models, and not the stingy
people of the Thames.

It is very odd that while the French and Scotch can contrive to give a
d